The assurances were given by President Julius Maada Bio of the Republic of Sierra Leone and President George Weah of the Republic of Liberia during separate courtesy calls in Freetown and Monrovia respectively by the visiting African Court delegation led by its President Hon Justice Sylvain Oré.
Other members of the delegation included the former President of the Court Hon Justice Gérard Niyungeko and the Registry staff.
President Bio appreciated the Continental Court’s efforts at strengthening human and people’s rights across Africa when receiving the African Court delegation on 2 August 2018 at the State House.
“We are new in office but our commitment to human rights is very strong and you can be rest assured that we will give this particular issue a positive consideration. We will look at it and consider the ratification and the declaration. My government will look into the issues and take positive measures about them,” he stated during talks with the Court’s delegation.
The President of Liberia Dr George Weah, welcomed the delegation to Monrovia on Monday 7 August 2018, and said that his country was committed to protecting and observing human rights and fully backed the work of the Continental Court.
Dr Weah also assured the delegation of his government‘s support towards ratification of the Protocol establishing the African Court, adding: ‘’You have our support in protection of human rights on our continent.’’
The sensitisation missions are part of the on-going efforts of the Court to interact with different stakeholders in order to deepen their understanding of the Court’s mission and to encourage States to ratify the Protocol establishing the AfCHPR and to deposit the special declaration.
So far, 30 out of 55 African Union (AU) Member States have ratified the Protocol and only 8 of them have deposited the declaration. These 8 States are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Malawi, Mali, Tanzania and Tunisia.
Both Sierra Leone and Liberia are yet to ratify the Protocol establishing the Court and deposit the declaration.
‘’Sierra Leone and Liberia have made tremendous democratic gains in recent years and I encourage them to ratify the Protocol and to deposit the declarations,’’ underscored the President of the AfCHPR, Hon Justice Sylvain Oré.
The Court delegation held seminars for human rights stakeholders in the two West African countries and also paid courtesy calls on the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Justice, the Legislature, the Judiciary, the Human Rights Commission and the Bar Association, among others.
Source: Tanzania Capital News